The Labor enquirer., 1887-05-21
THE TEXAN TALKS.
What M. ]. Nolan Thinks Concerning
Powderly's Alleged Harris
burg Speech.
Who Are the Real Traitors to the
Principles Of the Ameri-
can Flag?
From the II. Worth Southwest, April 10.
n IT RIouTy

From the II. Worth Southwest, April 10.
n IT RIouTy
The lady protests too much, methlnks.-
Z. Shakespeare.
At the State convention Of the Knights
OF Labor in Harrisburg last week, Mr..
Powderly, is alleged, spoke thus:
read ofthe result OF the election In Chi
cago the other day, and was glad TO hear
that the workingmen of,hat great city were
good enough 10 throw the lie back into the
faces OF those who passed as their friends and
representatives. No sooner did the Anarch-
ist ticket go before the people than Its sup
porters said:
1--WE will carry the ticket through under
the nag on whose face not one star glistens,
not one stripe IL TO be found, and the teach
ings OF such men ~ Powderly and Grihiths
Will have no weight with US"
hut they found on election day that An
archy was showed under as II never was
showed under before, and say amen TO that
svery tine. tGreat applause.I did not
know hut that In the decoration ofthis hall
you might forget to place the American flag
on the wall Thursday-that II might he for
gotten. l brought this with me this morn
Ing Here Mr.. Powderly exhibited a flag
amid tremendous applause.l And l brought
II here so that II II were charged that we
were not Americans, that there was Il don't
care where was born, don't care where the
rest OF you were born) one who swore by that
flag and no other. Here Mr.. Powderly pre-.
sented the flag TO NJ. A. Burke OF Carbondale.
an old friend.
With all due Difference TO Mr.. Powderly,
this may be very dramatic but ii was, to
say the least, uncalled-for. Moreover, it
was an insult (unintended, of course) to
the members of that order of which Mr..
Powderly is chief executive. Must the
Knights Of Labor at every public meeting
protest that they are American citizens
and not alien intruders and traitors! Must
they on every occasion disclaim being
murderers and cut-throatsY Must they
pay public homage TO the stars and stripes
TO prove thiss The writer as member
of that order, protests against such an in
timation, even by implication; protests
against such course by Mr.. Powderly, or
any other member speaking for the order.
The Knights of Labor are not whining
dependents on public tolerance, nor are
they forced to crave a certificate of char
acter from anybody, public or private. II
they have not the inherent right to live,
and the inherent worth meriting life, and
the self-respecting consciousness of that
worth, then they are fit only TO die and
the sooner tho better.---If they do not re-
spect themselves they need not expect the
respect of others. If they go around beg
ging pardon for their existence from
every crowd they meet, they deserve moth
ing but contempt. II is weak and un-
manly TO even appear TO truckle to vicious
and vulgar report and pander to predju-
dice real or reputed.
True devotion to the American flag is
right. But true devotion consists in re-
gard for the principles IL represents, and
not in lip-service laudation to the piece
of bunting. The stars and stripes sym
bolize principle, an idea-the American
idea-the idea enunciated in the Declara-
tion OF Independence-the inherent, inal-
icnable right Of all men to equality before
the law. The man who lives up to that
idea, who demands every right for others
which he asks for himself, who believes in
the broOdest, fullest liberty consistent
with the equal liberty of Others, for
every individual. Such man is true to
the American idea, true TO the stars and
stripes, which symbolic 1t. y
The man whose life and actions do not
conform to that standard, who is unjust,
narrow minded and bigoted, is a traitor
TO that flag, although he be decked in the
stars and stripes and publicly worship the
American eagle morning, noon and night.